Door or like operating device



June 12, 1945. J, VALLEN noon OR LIKE OPERATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 14, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 120x15 Vauen ATTORNEY June 12, 1945. I E VALLEN DOOR OR LIKE OPERATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 14, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ||\.M i l I I l l l I I l l l l I I l I I I l I I I l l l I l I I l I I l I I I I l I I l |P.|

INVENTOR Earl ZLVoMen W W RTTORNEY any June 12, 1945. E. J. VALLEN 2,378,262

DOOR OR LIKE OPERATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 14, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR vi 5. Yallerz ATTORNEY June 12, 1945. E. .1. VALLEN 2,373,262

DOOR OR LIKE OPERATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 14, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 1 INVENTQR Edfl 5 Vallen BY W ATTORNEY Patented June 12, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR. R LIKE OPERATING DEVICE Earl J. Vallen, Akron, Ohio Application October 14, 1942, Serial No. 461,946

14 Claims.

This invention relates to devices which may be used for operating garage doors or the like, but may be used in many difierent fields to operate movable apparatus.

Heretofore there have been proposed many different designs of power-operated devices for use in opening and closing garage doors and other movable closures and some of these devices have been commercial and to a degree satisfactory. However, there has been a great demand for devices uf this kind which will be simple and not likely to get out of order and which will be periectly safe in operation so as not, when carelessly used, to inJure a person or a vehicle or the equipment itself, when the movement of the closure is obstructed in any way.

In accordance with the present invention which may be embodied in many forms, including that of an overhead garage door operator as shown in the drawings, a very simple power-operated device is provided utilizing no limit switches, the power unit and controlling switches and devices preferably being enclosed in a casing completely protected against dislocation or derangement and the unit being automatically thrown out of operation and set to reverse after the door or closure engages an obstructionwhich, if it is a vehicle or person, for example, will be nowise damaged or injured.

This invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings showing it applied in an overhead garage door installation and by reference to the brief description of this installation as illustrated in the drawings.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an inside perspective view within a garage or the like of an overhead garage door ranged as will be understood to slide in guides at II, II extending upwardly vertically from the floor oi the garage and curving rearwardly and extending horizontally rearwardly a sumcient distance to support the garage door, when open, in a position underneath and parallel with the ceiling of the garage. Suitable bumpers may be provided as indicated at I2 to limit the rearward movement of the garage door ID on the rearwardly extending portions of the guides H.

The improved power unit is shown generally at l3 and may be suitably fastened, in the installation illustrated, to the ceiling of the garage. The driven element of the unit I 3 may comprise a grooved pulley ll about which is trained a cable 15 which may be held snugly about pulley l4 for effective driving engagement therewith by idler pulleys l6, l6 suitably mounted on unit IS. The cable l5 may be of the endless type and may be trained about an idler pulley H which, in the' particular installation shown supports the stretches of the operating cable l5 just beneath the ceiling of the garage, pulley l1 being, for example, mounted on a bracket l8 secured to the front wall of the garage above the door opening. To the end that the cable 15 shall be maintained taut and prevented from sagging it may have therein a spring I9. g

In order to operate the garage door ill from the cable 15, there may be provided at the top of the door a link 20 which may be pivotally connected at 2| with a bracket'22 secured to one stretch of cable l5, and rollers 23 may be provided on the pivot 2| at each side of the bracket 22 which may installation in which the present invention is embodied.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional elevation showing the equipment by which the garage door may be efiectively adjusted into a tightly closed position by the power unit herein disclosed.

Figure 3 is a sectional plan through the operating unit as indicated by line 3-3 on Figure 4.

Figure 4 is a sectional elevation on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

engage fixed cam 24 which may be secured to the ceiling of the garage and which have forwardly and downwardly curving surfaces at 24a in the path'of the rollers 23 whereby as the garage door l0 moves into its closed position a thrust will be established by the action of cams 24 on the link 20 tightly to urge the bottom edge of the door in onto its seat on the floor of the garage at the door opening.

Referring to Figure 2, the bracket 22 is slidable on cable IE, it being movable therewith by engagement of spaced end portions of the brackets with the connecting end portions of the spring l9, thereby to provide a delayed-action connection between the cable and the bracket upon initial operation of the power unit l3 in either direction. In Figure 2, the cable is illustrated as having been operated to move spring l9 from right to left, through the delayed-action phase of a door-opening operation, so that continued movement of the cable in the same direction will move door l toward its open position.

Referring now particularly to Figures 3, 4, and 5 the unit l3 may include a split-phase motor l3a of a known type having the usual starting windings and the usual running windings with the usual automatic cut-out switch in the starting windings and being reversible, of course, to operate the garage door or other closure in opposite directions. The driven shaft of the motor [3a is indicated at and extends to the friction clutch 26 through which it drives a transmission shaft 21 on which is a worm 28 with which is meshed a worm-gear 29 on the shaft 30 of the driven pulley II.

To the end that the operation of the device will be simple and safe under all circumstances as heretofore indicated, it is essential that the operating unit should be set so as to transmit the power of the motor under all normal conditions to open or close the door but should have insuiiicient power to transmit the power of the motor to the door if any appreciable additional load is thrown on the clutch as when it moves into closed or open positions or by reason of the door accidentally engaging with an obstruction.

Because the normal operating load for which the clutch 26 must be set in different installations will vary with the weight of the door, its friction on the guides etc., it is desirable that the clutch 26 shall be readily adjusted when the installation is made. For this purpose the clutch members may be yieldingly urged together by a spring 3 I, the pressure of which may be varied by a plate 32 which may hold the spring 3| under determinate degrees of compression under the action of a yoke 33, the face of the yoke engaging the disk 32 preferably being constituted of a suitable wear-resisting material such as Bakelite, indicated at 34. The yoke 33 may be mounted at 35 on a pin and may be yieldingly held in position by a spring 38 about the pin 35. To vary the pressure of the yoke against the plate 32, a slidable cam or wedge-block 31 with a wedge surface at 38 may engage with the yoke 39, this cam or wedge-block 31 having journaled therein a rod 40 which is threaded at 4| through the housing i3 and operable from the outside of the housing for adjusting the cam.

The controls on the motor as shown in the wiring diagram of Figure 6 preferably include a starting switch of the momentary contact type shown nowhere else in the drawings but which may be mounted at any suitable point remote from the unit l3 and convenient for actuation by one desiring to operate the door. This momentary contact switch is indicated at 42, this switch being associated with a holding switch 43 and a reversing switch 44 in the motor circuit (see Figures 3, 4, and 5). The holding switch 43, of course, is in the circuit to the running winding 45 of the motor and the reversing switch 44 is in circuit with the starting winding 46 of the motor in which is the usual cut-out switch 41, used with motors of the type disclosed for the purpose of opening the starting winding circuit after the motor attains momentum.

In the present installation means are provided for automatically opening the circuit to the motor by disengaging the holding switch when the door I0 moves into closed position or into its fully opened position or when the door 10 encounters any obstruction increasing the load on the clutch 26 appreciably above that for which it is initially set. In order to so control the holding switch, a disk 48 is secured on the driven shaft 27 so as to rotate with that shaft and associated with the disk 43 is a friction roller 48 secured on a double-throw lever 58 (see Figure 5) which is pivoted at 5! and'which has two ends 52 and 53 respectively, either of which may engage a plate or bar 54 which is yieldingly urged by spring 55 against abutments at 56, 56 which so position the bar 54 under the action of spring 55 as to hold the bar 54 in position to be engaged by the lever 50. Yielding contact of roller 49 with disk 48 is maintained by a spring 5Ia on pivot pin 5|. Bar 54 is arranged to push a stem or button 5! inwardly to engage the contacts in switch 43, which may be of a standard type, whenever bar 54 is engaged and moved as for example, to the dotted line position shown in Figure 5 by engagement with the bar of either end 52 or end 53 of the lever 50, depending upon the direction of rotation of disk 48 and the frictional action thereof on the friction roller 49. As indicated in Figure 5, the end 53 of the lever 50 is shown actuating the plate 54 in the dotted line position in a condition which would obtain when disk 48 is rotating counterclockwise. It will be apparent that upon a clockwise rotation of disk 48 the action on friction roller 49 would swing lever 58 about its pivot 5i, causing the end 52 of lever 58 to have a corresponding action at the other end of plate 54, either action, of course, serving to hold the switch 43 closed. The movement of lever 50 is sufilciently free that when disk 48 is not rotating, either one end or the other, that is end 52 or 53 would merely be in engagement with the plate 54 in the full line position shown in which the switch 43 would be opened. This control is such that upon a momentary contact of the starting switch, causing the motor to operate in one direction or the other, the holding switch will be closed and held closed until the garage door reaches the limit of its travel in either direction or until it encounters some obstacle preventing its movement.

The reversing switch 44 is arranged to be con-- trolled by a double-throw lever 58 which may have a ball-shaped outer end engaged in a socket 59 in a reciprocable element 68 which is arranged to be reciprocated by a shaft 6] having thereon a feed-screw I0 somewhat enlarged to provide shoulders at the ends thereof (see Figure 4). The feed-screw 18 cooperates with element 60 and is interconnected to reciprocate it in a known manner with the exception that the reciprocable element 60 can pass out of engagement with the screw-thread and ride in e gagement with the shoulders at either end of element 10 to hold the switch 44 closed in either extreme position of element 60 and while shaft BI is rotating or after it has stopped. In order to urge element 68 against the shoulders of element 10 so that it will re-engage with the screw-thread to reciprocate element 60, springs H and T2 are arranged to engage element 60 at one side or the other thereof a it moves into switch-closing positions.

So that the reversing switch 44 may not be closed until the automatic cut-out switch 41 opens, shaft 6! is arranged to be intermittently rotated by having secured thereon a driving wheel 13 on which is arranged a circular series (four) of pins 14 adapted to be engaged by pins 15 (three) secured on shaft 30. This arrangement is such that whenever shaft 30 starts to rotate, it will require a predetermined time for switch 44 to open and to be set in reverse, and this time will be longer than required for the operation of the automatic cut-out switch 1 whereby the reversing switch is only closed when the circuit through the starting windings is open. The switch- 44 is thus arranged to be reversed after each operation of the door l0, so that if 'the door I is openv when the circuit to the motor is established, the motor will be operated to close it, and vice versa, and also, so that if the door I 0 should accidentally engage an obstruction preventing its being either opened or closed, upon a subsequent actuation of the starting switch 42, the door will always move away from the obstruction. Thus, if a small child should be in the path of the door, a very slight resistance to its operation would cause the motor to stop and since, when the motor had been started to move the door, the reversing switch had shortly thereafter been set to reverse, a succeeding operation of the starting switch causes the door to move back away from the child.

In operation in order to either close or open the door, the starting switch 42 will be pressed starting rotation of the motor and operation of the door and because of the action of disk 48 the holding switch will be immediately closed, maintaining the circuit. After a comparatively short travel of the door, the automatic cut-out switch 41 having opened, the switch 44 will be actuated to set the motor to reverse upon any succeeding operation of the starting switch. After the motor has been started and is running on its running windings, it will continue to do so in the same direction until the door moves into a closed or opened position or strikes some obstruction. Upon a succeeding operation of the starting switch the door will move in the reverse direction. It is apparent that if nothing happens accidentally to apply an overload on the clutch 26 succeeding operations of switch 42 will serve to open and close the door without the intervention of limit switches. As will be apparent from a preceding paragraph hereof, the cam 24 acts as an adjunct with respect to the motor to provide a positive thrust through the link 20 so that the door will move tightly against its seat in closed position. Referring to Figure 2, the delayed-action connection provided by bracket 22, as previously described, is designed to prevent premature stopping of the power unit 13, upon initial operation thereof to open or close door I0, by overloading the unit before full power thereof has been attained.

Obviously, many modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims and the particular installation shown is to be understood as illustrative only since features of the invention may be utilized in the control of movement of other types of doors and closures or other devices in which it may be desired to provide simple means obviating the use of limit switches or improving the safety of devices including movable parts.

What is claimed is:

l. The combination with a reversible prime mover of manual means for initiating movement thereof. and reversing means operable to set the prime mover for operation in opposite directions, means for operating said reversing means during initial movement of said prime mover to set the prime mover for reverse movement upon a simceeding operation of said manual means, means driven by the prime mover, a clutch adapted to slip under a predetermined load between said prime mover and said driving means and means operable by frictional engagement with the driven engage said maintaining means to stop the prime mover.

3. The combination with a reversible motor including starting windings and running windings of a manually operable switch of the momentary contact type for starting said motor, a reversing switch for said starting windings operable to initiate movement of the motor in either of opposite directions when said manually operable switch is closed, means for operating said reversing switch during initial movement of said motor in one direction to set the motor for reverse operation upon a succeeding operation of said manually operable switch, a switch on said running windings operable when movement of the motor has been initiated in either direction for maintaining said motor in operation in either direction and means'associated with said last-named switch operable under normal load conditions to hold said last-named switch closed but operable under conditions of excessive load on said motor to open said last-named switch and stop the motor.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3, including a movable apparatus connected to said motor to be operated thereby, and stops at the v limits of movement of said apparatus for stopping the apparatus and thereby applying an excessive load upon said associated means.

5. The combination set forth in claim 3, said 0 motor having an automatic switch for the starting windings operable when the motor attains momentum to open the circuit to the starting winding, said means for operating the reversing switch being driven by the motor so as to delay reversal of the reversing switch until said automatic switch has opened.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 1, including a friction clutch between the prime mover and said maintaining means set to slip under excessive load conditions.

7. The combination set forth in claim 3, in-

cluding a friction clutch between the motor and said maintaining means, and set to slip under excessive load conditions.

8. The combination with a reversible motor, and in a circuit therewith, a manually operable switch of the momentary contact type, a holding switch operable by initial movement of the motor to maintain operation thereof in either direction of movement of the motor, a reversing switch, operable between reversing positions by movement of the motor, and means for operating said reversing switch from one of its positions in which the motor was started to its other position in which said motor may be started for a succeeding operation in reverse, said last-named means including a reciprocable member connected to said reversing switch and a helical thread member engaged therewith and operable by the motor during the initial movement thereof in one direction whereby if the motor is thereafter stopped, it will be driven in opposite direction upon subsequent operation of said manually controlled switch.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8, includ- 4 asvaaoa ing means for opening said holding switch under excessive load conditions.

10. The combination set forth in claim 8, said motor having starting windings and running windings, there being an automatic cut-out switch in said starting windings, said means for operating said reversing switch being driven by said motor so as to cause reversal or said switch after said automatic cut-out switch has opened.

11. In apparatus of the class described, a reversible motor having starting and running windings and an automatic cut-out switch for the starting windings, a reversing switch, means driven by the motor for reversing said switch, said means including driving connections with the motor which delay reversal of said reversing switch until just after opening of said cut-out switch whereby when the motor is thereafter stopped and again started, it will run in a reverse direction.

12. In apparatus of the class described a reversible motor, a manually operable switch of the momentary contact type for starting the motor, a holding switch operable by initial movement of the motor in either direction, and means for operating said holding switch comprising a disk driven by the motor, a double acting lever operable to close the switch when swung in either direction, and means for swinging said lever in either direction comprising a friction wheel thereon and riding on the surface of said disk.

13. In apparatus of the class described, a reversible motor, a reversing switch, means driven by the motor for reversing said switch, said means including a reciprocable element connected to said switch and a helical thread member driven by the motor for reciprocating said element to move said switch between reversed positions.

14. In apparatus of the class described, a reversible motor, a reversing switch means driven by the motor for reversing said switch, said means including a reciprocable element connected to said switch and a helical thread member driven by the motor for reciprocating said element to move said switch between reversed positions, said helical thread member having shoulders at opposite ends thereof, and means interconnecting the thread member and said element, said means riding in cooperation with the helical thread during switch-reversing movements and on one or the other of said shoulders after a reversal of said switch and while said motor may continue to rotate in the direction in which it was started, and yielding means associated with said thread member for holding said switch-operating element against each shoulder so that the interconnecting means will enter the helical thread thereof when the motor has been stopped and again started.

EARL J. VALLEN. 

